In The Space Between People
by Th3 W4nd3r1ng 0n3
Summary: The fight continues, even after The End.


_**Ok, so first off, hi! Welcome to what may be my first Eva fic...or what may just be a cute lil' one shot and a writing practice. I'm a huge fan of Evangelion, it is most definitely my favorite anime, the spark that began my journey in the search for them other good stories and I've been in love with the fandom ever since. I mean, I'm not some grand savant of EVA lore, but I've watched the thing at least 2 times, seen the Rebuild, so at least I've got the basics covered up...I think and I've read A TON of fics (most of them shameless Asushin but yet again, a man must fulfill his ship needs).**_

 _ **I've wanted to write an Eva fic for at least 2 years, with solid ideas starting to form up in my head a year ago. But I never found the time, inspiration or confidence to throw my own attempts after reading so many awesome works.**_

 _ **I still don't know exactly where I want this to go. A Post-3I fic? Of course, but what kind? My dilemma is between 2 paths: A standard post-** **apocalyptic** **journey with anime's most** **dysfunctional** **couple or a time-jump a couple of years in a desolate world, rife with new wars and tension. I dunno, both hold potential, I can feel it, but for the life of me I can't decide. If anyone bothers to read this, please help me in this decision process XD.**_

 _ **Anyways, hope you enjoy it!**_

 _ **-TheWanderingOne**_

The sky was a dark thing, black and ominous, the obscure endless void staring back at her, the twinkling dots that were the stars and planets somehow dimmed, blurry, so far, far away, replaced by the now grotesque sight of a red streak across the black canvas of the nightly sky. It covered only a part of the immense darkness of space glaring right at her, but it might as well have covered all of it, the crimson demanded…-what exactly, her gaze, her attention, her very being somehow, in some primal way unknown to her higher mental capacities.

Red like her hair, red like her blood, red like-

 _-the Lance, two-pronged and titanic, straining against her field, her self, the light of her soul. Prodding the wall of light held up by her own sheer will and the love of Mama, so bright, so strong, it probes, touching, pushing against the bond. She won't allow it, she's strong, Mama loves her and nothing can change that, nothing can break-_

 _It moves, it's moving, oh god it's moving and she can feel it_ _ **twisting**_ _, echoing inside her own soul as it changes shape, curling upon itself, rolling into a new form, so deadly in its simplicity, one sharpened stick of pure, unstained scarlet, its single tip, sundering the light of her soul, breaching, breaking, penetrating and..._

 _Her eyes widen in panic, trapped in a mix of shock, awe, rage and pure terror, blue orbs, watching through the titanic green lenses of Unit 02 meeting the unrelenting end of a weapon designed to sunder godly flesh._

 _Her eyes, her ego, her AT-Field all understand what is to come._

 _The Lance buried itself deeper into the holiest barrier she had ever erected, her heart, her soul, her very being were concentrated upon that point, seeking to reinforce, to protect herself and her Mama. She could do this, they could do this, she was_ _ **NOT**_ _going to lose!_

 _A shrill sound, like fabric being torn apart, static thundering through the eye of her mind as her Ego Barrier is violated by a copy of a weapon humanity barely understands._

 _Its speed_

 _Blinding_

 _Its force_

 _Overwhelming_

 _Its advance_

 _Unstoppable_

 _NonononononoNONONO_ _ **NONONONONO!**_

 _The lance does not stop, nor care, nor does it spare, it flies with unrelenting velocity and deadly intention, oddly elegant in its own twisted way as it finds its way into the EVA's eye socket andpainpainpainpainPAINPAIN_ _ **PAINPAINPAIN**_

She blinks, back in…back where? Where is she? What happened? The fog of her mind is a thick one, Instrumentality is no gentle journey, you cannot stare at the throbbing mass of Humanity without Humanity looking right back at you. Voices, psyches, souls, pulling and tearing, fighting for dominance, to be heard and their existence recognized as they merge into a new, higher form, divine and united.

Outside of that sacred Unity, the mortal mind of a human could not hope to contain and recall all of that. The finer details seep out of her mind like blood seeping from an open wound, memories of the divine become a blurred mess, the hows and the whys of her return threatening to lose themselves into the shrieking mess of Instrumentality that her subconscious is so desperately trying to escape from.

She…she came back, she's alive, this is the world, the **real** world. The realization is overwhelming, she's unable to react, unsure if it's joy, rage or despair this bitter feeling wriggling in her heart like a maggot. The red waves lap calmly against her plug-suit covered legs, bathing her in the bloody elixir of life that is the LCL, the air is silent, stagnant in its absolute calmness against the desolation previously effected upon it.

But she can't see any of that, her sapphire eyes stare impassively at the sky, lost in their own turmoil, still trying to find meaning and purpose now that she's back, trying to piece herself back from the fragment of the Divine that was the Instrumentality of Man.

Any grand musings are interrupted as a shadow blocks her view from the grand crimson streak in the sky. A silhouette she's not immediately able to recognize as a person, the sudden entry from this dark figure into her world does not do anything more than mildly startling her, and perhaps commence the revival of that old friend of hers called annoyance which she used to feel with regularity in those old days, now so far away.

Her reasoning is still too fractured, mind to hazy to really react properly as pale fingers constrict around her throat, eager as a predator that has just gotten ahold of a prey it has been chasing for a long, long time.

She does not react or say anything, her body feels like lead, heavy and clumsy, moving seems like a dream rather than an attainable reality, the hands squeezing her neck are an afterthought, a slight disturbance, nothing more.

Why is she here? Why did she come back?

There's just…nothing for her here anymore, her EVA, 02 was gone, Mama was gone…

Oh god Mama was gone.

A flash of cobalt, pain-filled eyes, righteous rage held fast by titanic apathy.

 _HELP ME!_

 _ **No**_

 _Pale fingers constrict around her throat, eager as a predator that has just gotten ahold of a prey it has been chasing for a long, long time._

Shinji?


End file.
